Propellant holder for an explosion-driven setting tool and an explosion-driven setting tool

ABSTRACT

An explosion-driven setting tool includes a setting mechanism ( 12 ) driven by a propellant ( 23 ), an ignition unit ( 18 ) for igniting the propellant ( 23 ), a receptacle ( 15 ) for receiving a propellant holder ( 20 ), a data communication interface ( 31 ) for receiving and transmitting data of the propellant holder ( 20 ), and a data processing unit ( 30 ) for receiving data transmitted by the data communication interface ( 31 ) and connected with a display ( 50 ) for displaying the propellant supply level ( 27 ) of the propellant ( 23 ) in the propellant holder having a housing ( 21 ) with an interior space ( 22 ) for receiving the propellant ( 23 ), and a data storage identification unit ( 40 ) in which the propellant supply level ( 27 ) is stored for being read-out.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a propellant holder for an explosiondriven setting tool and having a housing with an inner space forreceiving the propellant, and to an explosion-driven setting toolincluding a setting mechanism driven by a propellant, an ignition unitfor igniting the propellant, and a receptacle for receiving a propellantholder.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The propellant holder of the type described above can be filled with apowder fuel in form of cartridges or pellets but can also be filled witha fluid or gaseous fuel, with the powder, fluid or gaseous fuel formingthe propellant for driving a setting mechanism in a setting tool.

With contemporary setting tools driven with a solid fuel, the cartridgesor pellets are carried by a magazine strip which serves as a propellantholder and in which a plurality of pellet charges in blisters orcartridges are arranged. The magazine strips can, thus, be formed asblister or cartridge strips, respectively.

A propellant holder in form of a magazine strip is disclosed, e.g., inU.S. Pat. No. 5,811,717, with ten propellant charges being arranged onthe strip. At the height of the penultimate propellant charge, there isprovided an indicator mark on the strip. The indicator mark, when itbecomes visible in the setting tool, indicates to the user that only onepropellant charge remains on the magazine strip. No other informationabout the propellant charge is available to the user.

In order to insure that a large number of setting processes can beperformed with a setting tool without replacement of cartridge, blister,or magazine strips necessary for the setting processes, there isproposed to use magazine strips having an increased length.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,473, of which the present invention is animprovement, discloses an explosion-driven setting tool and a cartridgestrip therefor having a large number of propellant charges arranged in abox-shaped magazine. The cartridge or magazine strips are arranged inthe box in a predetermined position.

The drawbacks of this box-shaped magazine of U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,473consists in that no information is available to the user about a numberof the propellant charges that remains in the box at a predeterminedtime period.

A propellant holder for fluid and/or gaseous fuel is formed as apressure container. Such a pressure container, which serves as apropellant holder, are disclosed, e.g., in German Patent DE 197 46 018C2.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,453 discloses an aerosol container with a devicehaving a window in which a number of remaining, in the container,aerosol portions is shown with figures, color codes, or graphicmarkings. The drawback of the indicator of U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,453consists in that the data are not visible when the container, e.g., islocated in a receptacle of a dispenser. To ascertain as to the number ofthe remaining aerosol portions, the user has to retract the containerfrom the receptacle, which means loss of time.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is a propellant holderand a setting tool with the propellant holder in which the drawbacks ofthe prior art holders and setting tools are eliminated.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a propellantholder and a setting tool with which a number of remaining propellantcharges can be easily ascertained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects of the present invention, which will becomeapparent hereinafter, are achieved by providing a propellant holder ofthe type described above and including a data storage identificationunit in which the propellant supply level data are stored for being readout; and by providing a setting tool including a display for displayinga propellant supply level in the propellant holder, a data communicationinterface for receiving and transmitting data of the propellant holder,and a data processing unit for receiving the data communicated by thedata communication interface and connected with the display forcommunicating the received data thereto for displaying the displaythereby.

The provision of the propellant holder with a data storageidentification unit permits to store therein not only the supply leveldata but also identification data of the propellant. These dataadvantageously can be easily read out electronically by the setting tooland can become easily available to the user.

The provision of the setting tool with a display, a data communicationinterface, and a data processing unit connected with both the datacommunication interface and the display, permits the user to ascertainat any time the propellant supply level in the propellant holder. Theretraction of the propellant holder form the setting tool receptacle toascertain the supply level is not any more necessary.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the propellant holder, theholder has a data communication interface connected with the datastorage identification unit. In the embodiment of an inventivepropellant holder, which can be economically produced, the data storageidentification unit is formed as EEPROM or as magnetic strip.

In a further, economically produced propellant holder, the datacommunication interface is formed as an antenna, preferably, as atransponder antenna or as a contact element that cooperates with amating contact element provided in the receptacle of the setting tool.

The inventive propellant holder can be formed also, e.g., as a pressurecan or pressure container for a gaseous and/or liquid fuel. However, theinventive propellant holder can be also formed as a box or a cassettefor solid propellant charges in form of a cartridge or blister strip.

According to advantageous embodiment of the setting tool the dataprocessing unit is connected with the ignition device or a device forshifting the same between operational and non-operational modes. In theoperation mode of the ignition device, the setting tool can perform asetting process, as in this mode, the propellant is ignited by theignition device. According to a particular advantageous embodiment ofthe invention, the data processing unit actuates the ignition device forigniting the propellant when the following conditions are met, namely,(i) the data processing unit has received identification data which wereread-out from a data storage identification unit of the propellantholder received in the receptacle of the setting tool and which arerecognized by the data processing unit as authorized identification dataof a propellant suitable for the setting tool, and the propellant supplylevel data read-out from the data storage indemnification device andcommunicated to the data processing unit indicate that the propellantholder is not empty. These embodiment of the setting tool isparticularly user-friendly.

In order to reduce the data transmission path between the datacommunication interfaces, which are provided, respectively, on theholder and the setting tool, to a most possible extent, the datacommunication interface of the setting tool is located in a region ofthe propellant holder receptacle. The data communication interface ofthe setting tool can be formed as antenna or as a transponder antenna,or a mating contact element, or a magnetic strip reader. The datacommunication interfaces (and other electronic components) of thepropellant holder and the setting tool are adapted to each other to forman ideal propellant holder system.

The novel features of the present invention, which are considered ascharacteristics for the invention, are set forth in the appended claims.The invention itself, however both as to its construction and its modeoperation, together with additional advantages and objects thereof, willbe best understood from the following detailed description of preferredembodiments when read with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

The drawings show:

FIG. 1 a schematic, partially cross-sectional view of a setting toolaccording to the present invention, with a propellant holder received inthe setting tool receptacle;

FIG. 2 a top plan view of the propellant holder shown in FIG. 1 alonglines 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 a schematic, partially cross-sectional view of a setting toolaccording to the present invention with another embodiment of apropellant holder received in the setting tool receptacle;

FIG. 4 a plan view of the propellant holder shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 a schematic, partially cross-sectional view of a setting toolaccording to the present invention, with a further embodiment of apropellant holder received in the setting tool receptacle;

FIG. 6 a side view of the propellant holder shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 a bottom plan view of the propellant holder shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 a side view of a still further embodiment of a propellant holder;and

FIG. 9 a cross-sectional view of the propellant holder shown in FIG. 5along lines 9-9 in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A first embodiment of a propellant holder 20 according to the presentinvention, which is shown in FIGS. 1-2, is designed for use in a settingtool 10 schematically shown in FIG. 1. The setting tool 10 has a housing11 and a setting mechanism 12 located in the housing 11. The settingmechanism 12 includes a piston guide 14, a drive piston 13 displaceablein the piston guide 14, and a cartridge receptacle 52 for receiving apropellant 23 (see FIG. 2), e.g., a solid propellant charge 25 locatedin a cartridge or a blister. The propellant 23, which is located in thecartridge receptacle 52, can be ignited, electronically orelectromechanically, by an ignition device 18. After ignition, the drivepiston 13 is driven by expendable explosion gases formed in thecartridge receptacle 52 and performs a setting process, e.g., driving abolt or a nail, which is located in the bolt guide of the setting tool,into a constructional component (not shown). The setting tool 10 furtherincludes a handle 16 on which an actuation switch 17 is located. Theswitch 17 is connected by an electrical conductor 35 with a dataprocessing unit 30. The data processing unit 30 transmits, in responseto actuation of the switch 17 by the setting tool user, an ignitionsignal to the ignition device 18 with which the data processing unit 30is connected by an electrical conductor 36. The setting tool 10 furtherincludes a safety switch 19 which is connected with the data processingunit 30 by an electrical conductor 37. The safety switch 19 generates asignal, which is transmitted to the data processing unit 30, when thesetting tool 10 is pressed against a constructional component into whicha fastening element is to be driven with the setting tool.

The setting tool 10 further has a receptacle 15 for receiving thepropellant holder 20. The propellant holder 20 is temporary secured inthe receptacle 15 with a locking device 51. For securing the propellantholder 20 in the receptacle 15 in a predetermined position, there areprovided guide grooves 126, shown in FIGS. 2 and 9, which cooperate withguide elements 26 provided on the propellant holder 20. Retaining of thepropellant holder is very important because there is provided, in theregion of the receptacle 15, a data communication interface 31 (shown asbeing suspended) which is formed in the embodiment shown in the drawingas a magnetic strip reader 34. The magnetic strip reader 34 is connectedwith the data processing unit 30 by an electrical conductor 38 forexchanging data.

On the outer side of the housing 11, there is arranged an opticaldisplay 50 which is connected with the data processing unit 30 by anelectrical conductor 39. The display 50 displays supply level data 27indicating the supply level of the propellant holder 20 located in thereceptacle 15 of the setting tool 10.

The propellant holder 20, which is shown in FIGS. 1-2, has a housing 21with an interior space 22 in which propellant 23 in form of solidpropellant charges 25, which are arranged in a blister strip 29, arelocated. On a side wall of the housing 21, there is provided a datastorage identification unit 40 in form of a magnetic strip 44. In thedata storage identification unit 40, the information about thepropellant 23 for providing identification data is stored. The datastorage identification unit 40 also contains supply level data 27indicating a number of solid propellant charges 25 available in thepropellant holder 20.

When the propellant holder 20 is received in the receptacle 15 of thesetting tool 10, the blister strip with the solid propellant charges 25is displaced into the setting tool 10, to place a solid propellantcharge 25 into the cartridge receptacle 52.

The setting tool 10 and the propellant holder 20 interact in thefollowing way.

After the propellant holder 20 has been inserted in the receptacle 15 ofthe setting tool 10, the identification data and the propellant supplylevel are transmitted from the magnetic strip 44 or the data storageidentification unit 40 via the data communication interface 31 or themagnetic strip reader 34 to the data processing unit 30.

If the identification data are recognized as acceptable data, and thepropellant supply level indicates that at least one solid propellantcharge remains in the propellant holder 20, the data processing unit 30,which can be formed, e.g., as a microprocessor or an integrated circuit,puts the setting tool 10 in an operational mode. The propellant supplylevel 27 is displayed on the display 50. Upon a solid propellant charge25 being consumed, the data processing unit 30 changes the propellantsupply level 27 in the data storage identification unit 40 via the datacommunication interface 31, so that the data storage identification unit40 always stores the actual propellant supply level 27.

Upon the last solid propellant charge 25 being consumed, the display 50displays that no solid propellant charges remain, and the dataprocessing unit 30 puts the setting tool 10 in its non-operational mode.

FIGS. 3-4 show a further embodiment of a propellant holder 20 accordingto the present invention, which is inserted in the setting tool 10. Thepropellant holder 20 shown in FIGS. 3-4 differs from that shown in FIGS.1-2 in that the data storage identification unit is formed as EEPROM(electronically erasable programmable read-only memory) 45 with anintegrated data communication interface 41 in the form of contactelements 43. The setting tool 10, which is shown in FIG. 3, differs fromthat shown in FIG. 1 in that the data communication interface 31 isformed as mating contact elements 33. All of the other functions andelements are the same as those of the setting tool in FIG. 1.

A still further embodiment of the propellant holder 20 is shown in FIG.5 with the propellant being a gaseous or liquid fuel 24. The settingtool 10, in which this propellant is used, has, instead of a cartridgereceptacle, a combustion chamber 53 that is provided at a rear, withrespect to a setting direction, end of the piston guide 14. Thepropellant, i.e., fuel is fed into the combustion chamber 53 by ametering device 28 provided downstream of the propellant holder 20. Thereceptacle 15 is formed for receiving a pressure container forming thepropellant holder. A detailed description of the propellant holder 20 isgiven further below with reference to FIGS. 6-8. The data communicationinterface 31 is formed as a transponder antenna 32 which is connectedwith data processing unit 30 by an electrical conductor 38.

The pressure container, which formed the propellant holder 20, has ahousing 21 with an interior space 22 in which the propellant 23 in formof gaseous or liquid fuel 24 is located. At the bottom of the propellantholder 20, there is provided a transponder tag in form of a carrierelement 46 for carrying the transponder antenna 42 forming the datastorage identification unit 40 and the data communication interface 41.The carrier element 46 can be formed, e.g., of a plastic film.

The above-described data exchange takes place between the data storageidentification unit 40 of the propellant holder 20 and the dataprocessing unit 30 of the setting tool 10 through the data communicationinterfaces 31, 41. The display 50 displays the remaining amount of thepropellant 23, e.g., in ml, cl, or the like or displays an estimatednumber of remaining fuel portions and a corresponding number of possiblesettings. In the embodiment of a propellant holder 20 shown in FIG. 8,the transponder tag or the carrier element 46 is provided on the surfaceof the propellant holder.

The functioning of the setting tool with a holder for fuel propellant isthe same as that of FIGS. 1-4.

Though the present invention was shown and described with references tothe preferred embodiments, such are merely illustrative of the presentinvention and are not to be construed as a limitation thereof andvarious modifications of the present invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. It is therefore not intended that the presentinvention be limited to the disclosed embodiments or details thereof,and the present invention includes all variations and/or alternativeembodiments within the spirit and scope of the present invention asdefined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A propellant holder for being releasably mountedin a setting tool having a data communication interface (31), thepropellant holder comprising: a housing (21) having an interior space(22) for receiving propellant (23); a transponder tag (46); and a datastorage identification unit (40) carried on the transponder tag (46) andaffixed to the housing (21) and in which a propellant supply level (27)is stored for being read-out by the data communication interface (31) ofthe setting tool.
 2. A propellant holder according to claim 1, furthercomprising a data communication interface (41) connected with the datastorage identification unit (40).
 3. A propellant holder according toclaim 1, wherein the data storage identification unit (40) is formed asEEPROM (45).
 4. A propellant holder according to claim 2, wherein thedata communication interface (41) is formed as an antenna.
 5. Apropellant holder according to claim 4, wherein the antenna is formed asa transponder antenna.
 6. A propellant holder according to claim 2,wherein the data communication interface (41) is formed as a contactelement.
 7. A propellant holder according to claim 1, wherein the datastorage identification unit (40) is formed as a magnetic strip (44). 8.A propellant holder according to claim 1, wherein the propellant (23) isformed of solid propellant charges (25).
 9. A propellant holderaccording to claim 1, wherein the propellant holder is formed as apressure container for at least one of a gaseous fuel and a liquid fuel(24).
 10. An explosion-driven setting tool, comprising: a settingmechanism (12) driven by a propellant (23); ignition means (18) forigniting the propellant (23); a receptacle (15) for receiving apropellant holder (20) having a transponder tag (46) and a data storageidentification unit (40) which is carried on the transponder tag (46); adisplay (50) for displaying a propellant supply level (27) in thepropellant holder (20); a data communication interface (31) forreceiving and transmitting data with the data storage identificationunit (40) of the propellant holder (20); and a data processing unit (30)operationally connected with the data communication interface (31) andthe display (50).
 11. An explosion-driven setting tool according toclaim 10, wherein the data processing unit (30) is connected with theignition means (18) for controlling the same.
 12. An explosion-drivensetting tool according to claim 11, wherein the data processing unit(30) actuates the ignition means (18) for igniting the propellant whenfollowing conditions are met: the data processing unit (30) receivesidentification data which are read-out from the data storageidentification unit (40) of the propellant holder (20) received in thereceptacle (15) of the setting tool and which are recognized by the dataprocessing unit (30) as authorized identification data of a propellant(23) suitable for the setting tool (10); and propellant supply leveldata (27) read-out from the data storage identification unit (40) andcommunicated to the data processing unit (30) to indicate that thepropellant holder (20) is not empty.
 13. An explosion-driven settingtool according to claim 10, wherein the data communication interface(31) is located in a region of the propellant holder receptacle (15).14. An explosion-driven setting tool according to claim 10, wherein thedata communication interface (31) is formed as an antenna (32).
 15. Anexplosion-driven setting tool according to claim 10, wherein the datacommunication interface (31) is formed as a mating contact element (33).16. An explosion-driven setting tool according to claim 10, wherein thedata communication interface is formed as a magnetic strip reader (34).17. An explosion-driven setting tool, comprising: a setting mechanism(12) driven by a propellant (23); ignition means (18) for igniting thepropellant (23); a receptacle (15) for receiving a propellant holder(20), with the propellant holder (2) having: a housing (21) with aninterior space (22) for receiving propellant (23), and a data storageidentification unit (40) in which a propellant supply level (27) isstored for being read-out; a display (50) for displaying the propellantsupply level (27); a data communication interface (31) for receivingidentification data read-out from the data storage identification unit(40); and a data processing unit (30) for receiving the identificationdata from the data communication interface (31) and connected with thedisplay (50) for communicating the propellant supply level (27) thereto;wherein the propellant supply level (27), being stored in the datastorage identification unit (40) and being read-out by the datacommunication interface (31) of the setting tool, changes as thepropellant is consumed during operation of the setting tool, so that thedata storage identification unit (40) always stores the actualpropellant supply level (27) and that the display (50) displays theactual propellant supply level (27).
 18. The propellant holder of claim1, wherein the data storage identification unit (40) further storespropellant identification data.
 19. The propellant holder of claim 1,wherein the propellant supply level (27), being stored in the datastorage identification unit (40) and being read-out by the datacommunication interface (31) of the setting tool, changes as thepropellant is consumed during operation of the setting tool.